Gallery: A Nanotech Skylight That Looks Just Like the Sun Shining Overhead
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A breakthrough light fixture called [CoeLux](http://www.coelux.com/) uses LEDs and nano-materials to create a startling facsimile of sunlight.
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Accurately mimicking sunlight isn't just a matter of creating a perfect simulation of the sunlight's wavelength, but recreating a process called [Rayleigh scattering](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rayleigh_scattering) where that light is subtly distorted by atmospheric particles.
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The innovation behind CoeLux is a custom nano material that recreates the effects of 6,200 miles of atmosphere into a sheet of plastic just a few millimeters thick.
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CoeLux turns a basement washroom into a passable alternative to a Mediterranean spa.
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The fixtures feature no moving parts. Different qualities of light are created by manipulating the size and placement of the "hot spot," or the area of the fixture meant to represent the sun.
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"Even a perfect reproduction of the sun's spectrum fails in reproducing the natural light simply because it reproduces the natural light on the Moon, and not on the Earth," says CoeLux co-founder Paolo Di Trapani.
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Di Trapani believe CoeLux could allow for the creation of "groundscrapers," or buildings that stretch hundreds of feet into the ground.
